Monday, December 17, 2007

The BreakdownDespite a pretty light schedule of games last week, there were still several key changes to this week’s bracket. The A-10 and Big XII continued to impress, and each picked up an additional bid thanks to wins by Massachusetts (over Boston College) and Nebraska (over Oregon). After a one-week stay, BC drops out of the bracket, as does Syracuse. The Orange didn’t do anything wrong on the court this week, but losing second-leading scorer and on-court leader Eric Devendorf for the year to a torn ACL is a gigantic blow to the Orange’s tourney chances. Syracuse must rely that much more heavily on super frosh Jonny Flynn and Donte Greene and, while that may turn out OK for them in the end, it's a reality that currently has them on the outside of the bracket looking in.

Despite another loss this week, Louisville is still (barely) in our Field of 65. We admit that their inclusion (like North Carolina State’s inclusion) is based almost entirely on potential and not on performance, but we think that when the Cardinals finally get healthy and finally get Derek Caracter's head screwed on straight, they’ll turn things around and earn themselves a bid.

The rest of the changes in this week’s bracket came in the form of seed adjustments. Teams are starting to have enough games under their belt to make comparing resumes a little easier, and we adjusted each team’s seeds based on these head-to-head comparisons…

Out This BracketBoston College, Syracuse, MontanaIn This BracketMassachusetts, Nebraska, Portland State

Just found out that Fla. State Jr. Forward Casaan Breeden has left FSU's basketball program and is no longer enrolled at the university (per warchant.com). Fox Sports.com is reporting that he is looking to transfer due to lack of playing time at FSU. Don't know how much this will affect FSU in the future, but he seemed like a pretty solid player when he played. Any thoughts/comments?

Just to add to my previous post: The 'Noles best player, Isaiah Swann has only scored 8 points (6 vs. Butler and only 2 tonight vs. College of Charleston).. How the 'Noles managed to win tonight vs COC with him scoring only 2 is pretty unreal.. Could the Breeden absence be affecting his play?

The loss of Breeden obviously isn't good news for FSU, but in the end, the 'Noles are going to go as far as Isaiah Swann and Toney Douglas take them. (UPDATE: As we write this, FSU is down big to Providence in the second half...a loss would likely knock the 'Noles out of next week's bracket)

Taking Syracuse out of the bracket is a projection on our part. Again, our brackets are not done "as if the season ended today." We look ahead to see how we think a team will finish up the year, and without Eric Devendorf, we don't think that the Orange will be dancing in March.

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